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*NO* Batman: Arkham City 'Into Oblivion'


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ReMixer - RoeTaKa

Name - Alex Roe

Email -

UserID - 9374

Games Arranged - Batman Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham City, Batman Arkham Knight (if it is out when this is judged, although gameplay footage has the theme I'm using so I know it is in this game)

Arrangement Name - Into Oblivion

Songs Arranged - The main theme of the Arkham series. It is peppered throughout most of the songs, particularly in Arkham City (a short motif). There are little nods to parts of the Arkham City soundtrack as well. If I had to pick a particular song that is arranged then I guess it would be the Arkham City Main Theme.

Game info -

Batman Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham City, Batman Arkham Knight

Composers - Nick Arundel, Ron Fish (Arkham City only, not sure if he will return for Knight)

Systems - Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC (Arkham Knight PS4, XBOne, PC)

Comments:

Something I've always wanted to do is write a Batman song. Not just any Batman song, an Arkham one. I remember fondly buying Arkham City and starting it up on my PS3. I couldn't remember the last time I just sat and watched the title screen listening to that awesome awesome song. Arkham City's soundtrack is just incredible and Nick Arundel did a fantastic job of it. I'm looking forward to Arkham Knight's soundtrack just as much as the game itself.

This remix came about because of the E3 gameplay footage of Arkham Knight after hearing the theme again in its music. I wanted to do something that felt like it could've been in the soundtrack. I used the theme as much as I could but it was difficult to remix other parts of the soundtrack, mostly I took inspiration from parts of the music I really liked and went with that. In that respect I hope it matches the criteria. Thanks!

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Edited by Liontamer
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I didn't go over the source tune with a fine-tooth comb, but this sounded a lot more "inspired by" than "arrangement of". I'll admit I typically have trouble following how Alex uses the source tune in his remixes, and would appreciate some help.

But I also didn't think the production was quite good enough to get over the bar. The intro was weaker than Alex's usual, with the string swells dipping in volume too much from note to note. When the melody comes in at 1:07 on low strings, it had a similar problem with not sounding that fluid. 1:55 and the last minute of the song have the same problem again. 2:49 has two staccato instruments playing 16th notes that sound out-of-time with each other, which really didn't sound good. Overall, it wasn't as tight as what I regularly think Alex can do, and it fell just short for me.

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  • 1 month later...

I had to listen to the source a few times and the mix a couple of times to hear it, but the main motif of the source is littered throughout the mix enough that I didn't have a problem with the arrangement. I will note that towards the end I wasn't feeling the double-time use of the source theme, but I'm not sure if it was because of how it was used or the lack of realism in the strings that was bothering me. 

 

Vinnie's got some great advice regarding the production here. The strings overall I think could be touched up to add more realism to them overall, and the issue with that synth that doubles the 16th note source line is also something that could really stand to be addressed. I think you could work with dynamics more to get a lot more out of this mix as well. Some of the swells could be a lot stronger, and the quieter sections brought down as well.

 

I think this is on the right track, but needs a bit more finesse.

 

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First off, I think the production is just fine.  Strings not realistic enough?  Really?  They sound better than some actual video game scores.  

 

The only problem here is that it's not so much an arrangement so much as a soundalike.  If someone was like "hey we need a track that sounds like the Arkham City theme but we can't afford the licensing fee," they would hire someone to do this.  Same feel, same instrumentation, same orchestration techniques, with just enough notes changed to not get sued.

 

I do recognize a couple spots where the original "melody" exists, like the very beginning, but I think this track is much more about the feel of the original than the melody, and it's certainly not about the harmonic progression.

 

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